JOB OPPORTUNITIES. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority-organized job fair dubbed World Café of Opportunity (WCO) in the Cordillera Administrative Region started on Wednesday (Aug. 14, 2024), according to Allen Yadao (rightmost), TESDA-CAR specialist. Several government agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation, Social Security System, and the Philippine Statistics Authority have set-up one-stop-shops during the event. (PNA photo by Liza T. Agoot)
BAGUIO CITY – Around 1,500 graduates of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) trainings in the Cordillera region are expected to apply during the 7th World Café of Opportunity (WCO) jobs fair that started Wednesday.
Around 20,000 jobs are being offered during the TESDA-organized jobs fair, according to Allen Yadao, Supervising Technical Education and Skills Development (TESD) Specialist of TESDA-Cordillera Administrative Region, in a press conference here Wednesday.
“Last year we had about 25,000 job vacancies for local and foreign placements. We still have to consolidate the numbers this year with the last event happening on August 29,” he said.
The WCO event in Mountain Province was held Wednesday, while those in Tabuk City, Kalinga province will be on Aug. 22; Baguio and Benguet, on Aug 24; Abra and Ifugao, on Aug. 28; and Apayao on Aug. 29.
Yadao said all the events are open for the public since some government agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Statistics Authority, Social Security System, Philhealth, and Pag-IBIG will set up one-stop-shops.
He said WCO is TESDA’s way of linking their graduates to job providers or livelihood opportunities from other government agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry.
“If they feel they do not see any job that will fit or match them, they can ask for a scholarship so that they can update, upgrade and upskill themselves to increase their chances of being hired or placed in a local or foreign employment,” he said.
Ma. Socorro Bulatao, TESDA-Benguet Specialist, in the same press conference, said the WCO coincides with TESDA’s 30th anniversary.
She said there were 438 applicants in the WCO Baguio-Benguet in 2023 and 33 were hired-on-the-spot, and 72 were near hired or accepted but needed to submit additional documents.
“Most of those who applied were hired for local job placements because most of them were graduates of that year,” she added.
Bulatao said the agency still has more than 3,000 scholarship slots for Baguio and Benguet for this year and these include courses on tourism, carpentry, masonry, baking, cookery, barrista, housekeeping, information technology, and agriculture, among others.
She said TESDA-CAR received a PHP114 million budget for scholarship, and beneficiaries are provided PHP160 daily training allowance. (PNA)
